Dirt removal and piling machine

ABSTRACT

A dirt removal and piling machine is ideally suited for use in cleaning and piling individualized and non-uniformly shaped workpieces, preferably sugar beets but also potatoes, other tuber crops, and even with aggregate rocks for a tilting receiving station. A further aspect of the present machine includes a workpiece unloading or receiving station which can tip sideways after a dump truck unloads the workpieces and longitudinally drives therethrough. In another aspect, the machine also includes a cleaning station having rotatable rollers, an underlying dirt conveyor and a moveable dirt dumping conveyor, hopper or bucket adjacent an end of the dirt conveyor and external to the rollers. Furthermore, another aspect of the machine includes an automatic and/or robotic sampling arm which is operable to remove a tuber crop workpiece sample and automatically package the sample after the sample has moved through a cleaning station.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No.62/630,589, filed on Feb. 14, 2018. The entire disclosure of the aboveapplication is incorporated by reference herein.

BACKGROUND AND SUMMARY

The present disclosure relates generally to a machine and moreparticularly to a dirt removal and piling machine for handlingindividualized and non-uniformly shaped workpieces.

It is known to provide very large, portable piling machines in the sugarbeet industry. These conventional machines employ an unloading bin andconveyor for trucks to dump already harvested sugar beets upon, dirtremoval rollers or screens, a dirt transporting conveyor belt, and ahigh-speed and narrow conveyor to discharge the cleaned beets to a beetpile on the ground. Another traditional piler uses a large dirtdischarge container located directly below the cleaning rollers butwithout a conveyor belt therebetween; this discharge container approachis disadvantageously time consuming since the dump truck must await theslow movement of the discharge container from below the cleaningrollers, which also interrupts the cleaning operation. These priormachines damage the sugar beets, making the beets susceptible toinfection, rot and a reduction in their sugar content. Furthermore,these slow conventional devices significantly delay the trucks betweenoffloading the beets and receiving the discharged dirt, and also areprone to creating spills due to inaccurate or overflow offloading of thebeets or discharged dirt.

In accordance with the present invention, a dirt removal and pilingmachine is provided. In another aspect, a dirt removal and pilingmachine is ideally suited for use in cleaning and piling individualizedand non-uniformly shaped workpieces, preferably sugar beets but alsopotatoes, other tuber crops, and even with aggregate rocks for a tiltingreceiving station. A further aspect of the present machine includes aworkpiece unloading or receiving station which can tip sideways after adump truck unloads the workpieces and longitudinally drivestherethrough. In another aspect, the machine also includes a cleaningstation having rotatable rollers, an underlying dirt conveyor and amoveable dirt dumping conveyor, hopper or bucket adjacent an end of thedirt conveyor and external to the rollers. Furthermore, another aspectof the machine includes an automatic and/or robotic sampling arm whichis operable to remove a tuber crop workpiece sample and automaticallypackage the sample after the sample has moved through a cleaningstation. In another aspect of the present machine, at least an upwardlyangled main conveyor, and a telescopic and/or rotating piling conveyorare used after a cleaning station to discharge cleaned workpieces andpile the workpieces in a desired pattern. A method of using a dirtremoval and piling machine is also disclosed.

The present dirt removal and piling machine is advantageous overconventional devices. For example, the present machine is manufacturedand assembled in a modularized manner which allows for easy disassemblyand placement of the modules on flatbed trucks for removal to anotherjobsite and/or for enclosed shop maintenance. Furthermore, the presentmachine is advantageous by capturing any spilled workpieces or dirt, andby minimizing such spillage. Moreover, the present machineadvantageously imparts significantly less damage and bruising to theworkpieces which is especially beneficial for tuberous crops such assugar beets and potatoes. As another example, the on-site, automatedsampling and bagging station of the present machine is more accurate,faster and less labor intensive than prior sampling techniques. Thepresent machine also reduces truck waiting time and increases workpieceprocessing rates. Additional advantages and features of the presentmachine and method will become apparent from the following descriptionand appended claims, taken in conjunction with the accompanyingdrawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a first embodiment of a dirtremoval and piling machine;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing a beet unloading station of themachine, in a sideways tipped orientation;

FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing a cleaning station of the machine;

FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing a dirt removal station of themachine, with one hopper in a raised and dumping orientation, and withthe other hopper in a nominal use orientation;

FIG. 5 is a perspective view showing sampling and main conveyor stationsof the machine;

FIG. 6 is a perspective view showing a piling conveyor of the machine;

FIG. 7 is a fragmentary perspective view showing a distal end of thepiling conveyor of the machine, acting to pile sugar beet workpieces;

FIGS. 8A and 8B are diagrammatic views showing different pileconfigurations using the machine;

FIG. 9 is a perspective view showing a second embodiment of the dirtremoval and piling machine;

FIG. 10 is a top elevational view showing a beet unloading station and acleaning station of the second embodiment machine;

FIGS. 11-16 are a series of perspective views showing the beet unloadingstation and the cleaning station of the second embodiment machine;

FIG. 17 is an end elevational view showing the second embodimentmachine;

FIG. 18 is an end elevational view, taken opposite that of FIG. 17,showing the second embodiment machine;

FIG. 19 is an end elevational view showing the beet unloading station ofthe second embodiment machine in a nominal lowered orientation;

FIG. 20 is a fragmentary end elevational view showing the unloadingstation of the second embodiment machine, and the nominal lowerorientation and with a ramp door in a raised position;

FIG. 21 is an end elevational view showing the unloading station of thesecond embodiment machine, in a sideways tipped orientation;

FIG. 22 is a perspective view showing a conveyor table assembly employedin the unloading station of the second embodiment machine;

FIG. 23 is a perspective view showing the cleaning station of the secondembodiment machine;

FIG. 24 is a side elevational view showing the cleaning station of thesecond embodiment machine;

FIG. 25 is a perspective view showing one of the conveyors employed inthe conveyor table assembly of the second embodiment machine;

FIG. 26 is an end elevational view showing the conveyor of FIG. 25,employed in the conveyor table assembly of the second embodimentmachine;

FIG. 27 is a top elevational view showing a dirt removal station of thesecond embodiment machine;

FIG. 28 is a side elevational view showing the dirt removal station ofthe second embodiment machine;

FIG. 29 is a perspective view showing a third embodiment of the dirtremoval and piling machine;

FIG. 30 is a diagrammatic, cross-sectional view showing the thirdembodiment of the dirt removal and piling machine; and

FIG. 31 is a top elevational view showing a variation of the thirdembodiment of the dirt removal and piling machine.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Referring to FIGS. 1-7, a first embodiment of a dirt removal andworkpiece piling machine 21 includes a pair of sugar beet receiving andoffloading stations 23, a pair of cleaning stations 25, a dirt dumpingstation 27, a sampling station 29, a central and main conveyor station31, a piling conveyor 33 and a control room 35. A class 8 semi-truck orother such dump truck 51 includes an open-topped trailer which containsindividualized and nonuniformly shaped workpieces, such as sugar beets53. Truck 51 is longitudinally driven onto a bed of unloading station23. When bed 61 is in its nominal horizontal position and a rearwardramp 55 is raised, the truck upwardly pivots its trailer about a lateralrear axis to dump out its load of beets through a rear opening gate asthe truck longitudinally drives forward and off of the forwardmost ramp55. Thereafter, both ramps 55 are upwardly rotated about horizontalpivot axes 57 (which may alternately be in the center of the ramp soonly ends of the ramp are raised) by a hydraulic cylinder associatedwith each ramp 55.

Longitudinally elongated side walls 59 and upwardly rotated ramps 55serve to enclose bed 61 of the associated offloading station 23. Foreach station 23, multiple hydraulic cylinders, spanning between brackets63 and 65 operably tilt bed 61 about a longitudinally oriented axis 67adjacent an inboard edge from the nominal position shown in FIG. 1 tothe tilting position in FIG. 2. The titled rotation is preferablybetween 45-60°, inclusive, relative to the nominal horizontal position,and allows for inboard side dumping of the beets located therein.

Each bed may optionally include a scale to weigh the dumped beets. Thetruck stops its forward movement off of bed 61 adjacent dirt removalstation 27. Furthermore, a second truck can optionally unload its sugarbeet contents simultaneously on the opposite offloading station 23.

The rotation of bed 61 dumps the sugar beets therein onto outboardmostgrab rollers 81 of cleaning station 25. The cleaning or screeningstation includes multiple longitudinally elongated and parallel rollers81 which each have a spiral thread or raised formation on an exteriorthereof continuously extending between its ends. Some of these rollersdrive beets 53 in one longitudinal direction and when they near the endthereof, they laterally move to different sets of adjacent rollers whichthen push the beets in a reverse and opposite longitudinal directionsand then back again with a third set of the rollers. There are spacesbetween each of rollers 81 which allow for dirt removal from beets 53due to the tumbling action. The rollers are preferably hydraulicallydriven but may alternately be electromagnetically driven with chainand/or gear transmissions. The rollers and transmissions are coupled toa stationary frame 82.

An elongated dirt removal conveyor belt 83 longitudinally extends belowall of rollers 81 in a first generally horizontal section 85 and then inan upwardly angled section 87. Conveyor 83 receives the workpiece dirtfalling through the roller spaces. A distal end of angled section 87 ofthe dirt removal conveyor overhangs a hopper or bucket 91 of dirtremoval station 27.

A hydraulic cylinder moves an associated hopper 91 from a lowerednominal position (as shown on the right side of FIG. 4), diagonally up aset of tracks 93 and subsequently rotated sideways to a tipping positionabout a horizontal axis (shown on the left side of FIG. 4) with anextended outer sidewall 95 with a lip projecting above a side of thelowered truck trailer to output dirt thereto. Hoppers 91 are moveablycoupled to a stationary frame 94 via tracks 93. Each hopper 91 has acurved bottom 97, and sidewall 95 has a generally flat and diagonallyangled shape to encourage complete dirt removal therefrom when tipped.It is noteworthy that the raising and rotating action of hopper 91 is agenerally continuous motion due to a single advancing stroke of thehydraulic cylinder. Retraction of the cylinder reverses the hopper.Optionally, scales can be coupled to hoppers 91 to weigh the “tare” dirttherein before the dirt is dumped back into the truck. Each hopper 91holds at least six tons of dirt and more preferably at least ten tons ofdirt.

A laterally moving discharge conveyor belt 101 is centrally positionedin each cleaning station 25 and may be hydraulically raised and loweredby one or more hydraulic cylinders. Discharge conveyor 101 may be liftedto allow robotic arms 103 of automated sampling station 29 to capture afew sugar beets in a chamber therein as the beets move off of thecleaning station rollers 81. The sampling chamber is then automaticallyand robotically moved to align above a bagging machine 104 whereafter abottom floor of the chamber is automatically opened and the sampledsugar beets therein fall into an opening in the bagging machine. Thebagging machine automatically encloses the sampled beets into a bag,encloses the bag and labels the bag without requiring manualintervention.

After the sampling arms have removed the samples, the hydraulicmechanism will return discharge conveyor 101 to its nominal position.The discharge conveyor, in its nominal position, receives and removesthe sugar beets falling from proximal ends of rollers 81 adjacentthereto, and drops beets laterally onto a central and upwardly angledconveyor belt 121 of main conveying station 31. This central belt 121 ispreferably made of an elastomeric material which is driven by a seriesof electromagnetically (e.g., electric motor) actuated rollers in acontinuously looped manner. Optionally, a chevron rubber-cleated patterncan be molded in a raised manner from the otherwise generally flat beltto better retain the beets. Moreover, belt 121 is preferably at least 70inches in width and has a capacity of at least 1200 TPH.

One exemplary bagging machine is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,842,569entitled “Carrot Bagging Apparatus and Method” which issued toMcClelland et al. on Oct. 22, 1974, and is incorporated by referenceherein. Another exemplary bagging machine can be found in U.S. Pat. No.6,672,038 entitled “Bag Manipulating Method and Assembly for a BagFilling Station” which issued to McGrane et al. on Jan. 6, 2004, and isincorporated by reference herein.

Piling conveyor 33 has a hitch 131 adjacent a proximal end thereof whichmounts to a coupling bracket attached near an output end 133 of centralconveyor 121. Piling conveyor 33 may rotate about a vertical axisaligned with hitch 131, and may longitudinally expand and retract in atelescoping and stacked manner toward and away from hitch 131. Conveyor33 also preferably has a width of at least 70 inches. Piling conveyor 33includes a belt and rollers, which overhang beyond the remainder of themachine.

Referring to FIG. 7 and FIG. 8A, sugar beets 53 fall off of a distal end135 of piling conveyor 33 in piles that have generally flat forward,back and sidewall planes 141 for a pair of opposite outer sections 143.Outer sections 143 have a height of approximately 30 feet and a middlesection 145 having a height of approximately 16-18 feet off of theground; thus, the middle is lower than the outer sections. Traditionalsugar beet piles each had spaced apart sections as illustrated in FIG.8B, but without a middle pile section. However, the present machineadvantageously piles the sugar beets in a continuous manner includingbetween the outer conventional pile outer sections 143. This greatlyincreases the pile capacity of the storage lot and reduces rim-beet orrot which is otherwise susceptible at the exposed outer sidewalls ofeach spaced apart section. The movement capabilities of the presentmachine, and especially that of piling conveyor 33, allow for thepresently improved piling configuration.

All modules and stations of machine 21 include wheels that contact thestorage lot. A diesel motor actuator operably drives transmissionswhich, in turn, drive some of these wheels. This allows the entiremachine to be moved across the storage lot.

A second embodiment of a dirt removal and piling machine 301 can beobserved in FIGS. 9-11. Machine 301 includes a workpiece-receivingstation 303, a feed conveyor table assembly 305, a cleaning station 307,a dirt removal and transporter 309, and a series of main pilingconveyors 311. At least one, more preferably at least three, and in theillustrated example, sixteen main piling conveyors 311 are employed inan overlapping fashion with a distal piling conveyor 313 beingtelescopically extendable and taller than the preceding pilingconveyors. Each of the piling conveyors are portable such that they maybe removed from the serial chain as distal piling conveyor 313 unloadsbeets onto a beet pile 315 in an arcuate manner as it is wheeled aboutits vertical pivot axis adjacent its lower end. When an intermediateconveyor 311 is removed, distal conveyor is moved closer to cleaningstation 307 so as to increase the on-ground pile size in a longitudinaldirection toward the cleaning station. Each piling conveyor 311 has aset of wheels 317 which ride along the ground 319, with distal pilingconveyor 313 having multi-directional sets of wheels to allow arcuaterotation and/or longitudinal movement as the beets are being offloadedtherefrom.

Receiving station 303 can better be observed with reference to FIGS. 11,16-18 and 19-21. Receiving station 303 includes a generally horizontallyplanar and flat bed 331, when in its nominal lowered orientation,bordered by opposite inboard and outboard sidewalls 333. Sidewalls 333are primarily vertically extended at a slight diagonal angle which arewider toward the top open end. End doors 335, also serving as part oframps 337, are each moveably coupled to a buttress corner 339 of inboardsidewall 333 by a hydraulically actuated cylinder 341. This allows eachend door 335 to be rotated about a horizontal axis from its loweredposition (see FIG. 11) to its upward and closed position (see FIGS. 13,17 and 20) when a truck vehicle and associated wheeled trailer 343 havemoved past the lowered door.

FIG. 11 illustrates end doors 335 lowered and aligned with ramps 337 sothat truck and trailer 343 can drive up the entry ramp and onto bed 331.Subsequently, FIGS. 12, 15 and 17 illustrate truck and trailer 343 movedonto bed 331 such that entry door 335 is raised and the truck driverhydraulically raises a front of trailer 343 to dump the tuberous sugarbeets 351 from a rear swinging door of the trailer directly onto thebed. Next, FIG. 13 illustrates truck and trailer 343 driving off of theexit ramp 337 such that exit door 335 is also upwardly rotated toentirely close the sides and ends of receiving station 303. Thiscondition is also illustrated in FIGS. 19 and 20. FIGS. 14 and 21 showbed 331, side walls 333 and raised end walls 335 upwardly rotated abouta horizontal and inboard axis 353 by multiple hydraulic actuators 355,each having an associated internal piston and extending piston rodcoupled to a stationary ground-located frame 357. After all of the sugarbeets have been dumped from receiving station 303, bed 331 is rotatedback to its lowered and nominal position, whereafter end doors 335 aredownwardly rotated to allow entry of a subsequent truck and trailer.

One or more load cells 359 is located between a portion of frame 357 andbed 331. Load cells 359 are electrically coupled to a scale used toweigh the intermixed sugar beets and dirt dumped within receivingstation 303.

Referring to FIGS. 10, 11, 15-17, 22, 25 and 26, feed conveyor tableassembly 305 is laterally located between the inboard side of receivingstation 303 and the leading edge of cleaning station 307. Feed conveyortable assembly 305 includes at least one, and more preferably eight,separate drag conveyor cartridges 371, each having an endless belt 373,laterally elongated opposite frames 375, a hydraulic motor 377,sprockets 379 driven by motor 377, and chains 381 driven by sprockets379. Furthermore, multiple raised bars 385 are connected to and spanacross belt 373 in a parallel and spaced apart arrangement. The multiplecartridges 371 are attached together across the longitudinal length offeed conveyor table assembly 305 between upstanding and fixed sidewalls387 mounted above the ground. In use, beets 351 intermixed with the dirtare dumped from bed 331 onto feed conveyor belts 373 which horizontallymove the beets onto cleaning station 307.

Reference should now be made to FIGS. 11, 17, 23 and 24. Cleaningstation 307 includes symmetrical and mirror imaged left and right rollermodules 401 and 403, respectively, which are separated by a centraltransfer conveyor 405. A hydraulic cylinder actuator 407, containing apiston and extending piston rod, couple a frame 409 of each rollermodule to a frame 411 of central transfer conveyor 405 such that uponpiston retraction, modules 401 and 403 can be moved from their nominalusage positions illustrated in FIG. 23, to an upwardly rotated position(not illustrated) to facilitate easy movement of the cleaning stationonto a flat bed wheeled trailer for transportation to a different beetpile site or for maintenance at a remote indoor facility.

Each roller module 401 and 403 includes leading grab rollers 413 whichare rotated by hydraulic, or alternately electric, motor actuators 415.Furthermore, a first set of cleaning rollers 417 each have spiralflighting 419, also known as raised threads, angled diagonally towardoutboard directions as can best be observed in FIG. 24. A second set ofoppositely rotated cleaning rollers 421 have spiral flighting or threads419 but in an opposite diagonal angle as compared to the flighting forrollers 417. Rollers 417 and 421 are driven by their respectivehydraulic or electric motor actuators 423. Rotational axes for all ofrollers 413, 417 and 421 are generally parallel to each other in thelongitudinal direction which is parallel to the driving direction of thetrailers through the receiving station. Additionally, the axes ofrollers 421 are higher off the ground than those of rollers 419 which,in turn, are higher than those of rollers 413.

Each adjacent pair of rollers 417 and 421 are spaced apart from eachother so as to allow dirt to fall therebetween as it is removed fromsugar beets 351 during their rotational tumbling thereon. Moreover,sugar beets 351 are laterally moved from feed conveyor table assembly305 onto grab rollers 431 which then tumble and laterally move the beetsonto first set of spiral rollers 417. The flighting angle causes thesugar beets to move in a somewhat semicircular path from a central areaof the cleaning station toward longitudinally outboard portions of therollers 417 adjacent frames 409. Thereafter, as the sugar beets aretumbled from the first of the spiral rollers 417 to the second set ofspiral rollers 421, the fighting on the second set of rollers 421 causesthe sugar beets to longitudinally move back toward central conveyor 405.

Central conveyor 405 includes endless chains or a belt 431 up from whichproject fingers 433 or ribs in a spaced apart and generally parallelarrangement. A hydraulic or electric motor actuator moves chains 431upon powered internal sprockets or rollers 435. Thus, the cleaned beetsmove from inner ends of cleaning rollers 421 onto chains 431 which thenmove the beets in a diagonally upward direction for placement onto mainpiling conveyor 311. It is noteworthy that the station-to-stationtransfers and tumbling of the beets is generally gentle throughout theentire process to minimize bruising and damage to the beets.

Dirt transporter station 309 is shown in FIGS. 10, 14, 17, 18, 27 and28. Dirt transporter station 309 includes a lower conveyor segment 451,a dirt transporter segment 453, and a moveable segment 455. Segments 451and 453 consist of a continuously looped conveyor belt 457 located upona set of internal rollers 459 and driven by a hydraulic motor actuatedhead pulley or roller 461. A hold-down pulley or roller 463 is locatedadjacent a joint or intersection between generally horizontallyelongated segment 451 and upwardly diagonal segment 453. Rollers 459 and461 are all coupled to a stationary frame 465 upon which cleaningstation 307 is mounted. Thus, a majority of conveyor belt 457 atlongitudinally elongated lower segment 451 is located directly below thecleaning rollers of cleaning station 307 to allow dirt to fall directlyfrom the sugar beets onto belt 457.

Segment 455 is a diagonally raised conveyor including an endlessconveyor belt 471 rotated upon rollers 473 at least one of which isdriven by a hydraulic or electric motor actuator. Rollers 473 arerotatably mounted upon a portable and mobile frame 475 upon which arepowered wheels 477. A hydraulic or electric motor is used to drivewheels 477 in order to swing or rotate the raised distal end of segment455 from its retracted position shown in FIG. 11 to its unloadingposition above trailer 343 as shown in FIGS. 10 and 18. A distal end ofsegment 453 overlaps a proximal and lowered end of segment 455 such thatdirt transported along belt 457 falls onto belt 471 and then is unloadedand dumped into the trailer at a location remote and spaced apart fromreceiving station 303. Thus, this allows for improved efficiencies sincebeets can be offloaded in the receiving station by one trailer while thepreviously dumped dirt can be placed back into a different trailer bythe dirt transporter station. Optionally, a load cell or other scale maybe placed on either a segment of dirt transporter station 309 or on theground below the trailer 343 after the dirt is unloaded therein. Acentralized computer controller will then automatically calculate thedifference in the combined beets and dirt in the receiving stationversus the removed dirt so as to calculate the cleaned beet valueactually unloaded.

Moreover, one or more optical sensors 485 are mounted adjacent thedistal end of dirt transporting frame 475. Sensor 485 senses if trailer343 is in a proper dirt unloading position. If a computer controllerautomatically determines that a trailer is in the correct position thenthe controller will automatically cause energization of motor 487 whichdrives wheels 477 and rotates conveyor segment 455 between its retractedand advanced (dirt unloading) positions, and then causes conveyor beltmovement to offload the dirt.

Reference should now be made to FIG. 29 which shows a third exemplaryembodiment of a dirt removal and piling machine 501. This configurationemploys a below-ground or subterranean pit 503 within which is locatedcleaning station 505, horizontal segment 507 of dirt transporter station509 and an initial main piling conveyor 511. A generally horizontalfeeding conveyor table assembly 513 is also optionally located withinpit 503. A bed 515 is either at ground level or preferably depressedbelow ground level, as is shown in FIG. 30. After a vehicular trailer517 dumps the sugar beets onto bed 515 and drives off of the bed, alatch 519 is released to allow a hydraulic actuator 521 to openly rotatebed 515. This allows beets 516 to downwardly fall and slide along achute 531 and then onto feeding conveyor table station 513. Upwardlyraised segment 533 of dirt transporter station 509 will remove the dirtfrom within the pit below the cleaning rollers for unloading intotrailer 517. Moreover, initial conveyor 511 of each receiving andcleaning site will transfer the cleaned beets from each cleaning station505 onto a main piling conveyor 535, a first segment of which is in anintersecting channel of pit and a distal segment of which diagonallyrises above the ground surface for dropping the beets onto a subsequenttelescopic piling conveyor 537 which may rotate its distal end back andforth to create the unloaded pile. The stations are otherwise the sameas the second embodiment. Two adjacent and generally parallel receiving,cleaning and dirt removal sites are illustrated in FIG. 29 while fiveare illustrated in FIG. 31. It is envisioned that the pit configurationof FIG. 31 can handle at least twelve times the sugar beet receiving,cleaning and piling throughput as compared to traditional piler devices.

While various aspects of the present machine have been disclosed, otherfeatures may alternately be included. For example, conveyor belts may bereplaced by multiple powered rollers or chains, or vice versa.Furthermore, the bed of the receiving station may alternately tilt aboutan arcuate path and/or a vertically raised and then rotated path ratherthan a single pivot axis, although various benefits may not be achieved.Moreover, the quantity and length of the cleaning rollers can bedifferent, but certain advantages may not be realized. Features of oneembodiment may be interchanged and/or substituted with those of theother embodiments, and the dependent claims can be multiply dependent oneach other in all possible combinations of intermediate scope. It isintended by the following claims to cover these and any other departuresfrom the disclosed embodiments which fall within the true spirit of thisinvention.

The invention claimed is:
 1. A dirt removal and piling machinecomprising: (a) a workpiece-receiving station comprising: at least oneend ramp aligned along a longitudinal dump truck-movement direction, anda bed elongated along the dump truck-movement direction; sidewallsupstanding from inboard and outboard edges of the bed; an actuatoroperably tilting the bed about at least an inboard and horizontal axiswhich is substantially parallel to the dump truck-movement direction;and (b) a workpiece-cleaning station located inboard of the bed, thecleaning station comprising workpiece-contacting rollers.
 2. The machineof claim 1, further comprising a dirt transporter including a stationaryframe and a moveable section coupled to the frame, the dirt transporterbeing capable of receiving dirt removed from workpieces in the cleaningstation, and transporting the dirt to a remote location.
 3. The machineof claim 2, being configured to allow a vehicular trailer to dump theworkpieces and dirt at the receiving station, and the trailer receivesthe dirt from the transporter at the remote location after the dirt isseparated from the workpieces; and the moveable section of the dirttransporter comprising an elongated conveyor which includes asubstantially horizontal segment located below at least a portion of thecleaning station, and the conveyor of the dirt transporter including adiagonally raised segment spanning between the horizontal segment andthe trailer.
 4. The machine of claim 2, being configured to allow avehicular trailer to dump the workpieces and dirt at the receivingstation, and the trailer receives the dirt from the transporter at theremote location after the dirt is separated from its workpieces; and themoveable section of the dirt transporter comprising a hopper which isrotatable and liftable to dump the dirt into a top of the trailer. 5.The machine of claim 1, further comprising at least one mobile pilingconveyor capable of receiving workpieces cleaned by the cleaning stationand piling the workpieces, a raised end of the piling conveyor beingrotatable about a vertical pivot axis adjacent a lower end to allowpiling of the workpieces in a continuous top view arc on the ground. 6.The machine of claim 5, wherein the at least one piling conveyorincludes at least three mobile piling conveyors at least one of which isrotatable about its axis, each of the at least three of the pilingconveyors having a diagonally raised distal end which overlaps a lowerproximal end of the adjacent piling conveyor, and at least one of thepiling conveyors being telescopic.
 7. The machine of claim 1, whereinthe rollers of the cleaning station comprise spaced apart and parallelrollers, at least a majority of the rollers each including a spiralflighting to longitudinally move workpieces between outboard endsthereof while rotating the workpieces.
 8. The machine of claim 7,further comprising: a piling conveyor; a discharge transporter; and someof the rollers of the cleaning station rotate in an opposite directionfrom others of the rollers to first move the workpieces toward theoutboard ends and subsequently move the workpieces toward a centerlineof the cleaning station where the discharge transporter moves thecleaned workpieces to the piling conveyor.
 9. The machine of claim 1,further comprising tuberous crops received directly on the bed of thereceiving station and dirt being removed from the tuberous crops in thecleaning station through rotation of the tuberous crops.
 10. The machineof claim 9, further comprising: a piling conveyor transporting thecleaned tuberous crops from the cleaning station and piling the tuberouscrops on the ground; the rollers of the cleaning station being elongatedin a direction substantially parallel to an elongation direction of thepiling conveyor when the piling conveyor is centered, and the horizontaltilting axis of the bed being substantially parallel to the rollerelongation direction; and the tuberous crops being sugar beets.
 11. Themachine of claim 1, further comprising a substantially horizontal feedconveyor table located between the receiving station and the cleaningstation, the bed of the receiving station being capable of dumpingtuberous crop workpieces onto the feed conveyor table for subsequentmovement of the workpieces to the cleaning station in a directionsubstantially perpendicular to the bed tilting axis.
 12. The machine ofclaim 1, being configured to allow a first rear-opening dump trailer tounload first workpieces onto the bed while a second dump trailerreceives its previously dumped dirt at a remote location, the previouslydumped dirt having been removed from second workpieces cleaned in thecleaning station.
 13. The machine of claim 1, further comprising: afirst scale coupled to the receiving station to weigh workpieces anddirt before the bed is tilted; and a second scale weighing the dirtremoved from the workpieces by the cleaning station.
 14. The machine ofclaim 1, wherein each of the receiving station and the cleaning stationare modular and capable of being transported to another location.
 15. Adirt removal and piling machine comprising: (a) a tuberous crop-cleanercomprising rotating rollers capable of tumbling tuberous crops andremoving dirt therefrom; (b) a dirt-removal conveyor having an elongatedsection located below the rollers; and (c) a dirt-transporter locatedadjacent a distal end of the dirt-removal conveyor, the dirt-transportercomprising a stationary frame and a moveable section coupled to theframe, and the dirt-transporter being capable of transporting and thendumping the dirt into a mobile trailer; and (d) an elongated pilingconveyor being capable of receiving the cleaned tuberous crops andpiling them.
 16. The machine of claim 15, wherein at least a majority ofthe rollers of the cleaner each include a spiral flighting tolongitudinally move tuberous crops between outboard ends thereof whilerotating the tuberous crops, and the rollers of the cleaner beingcoupled to a stationary frame during the cleaning.
 17. The machine ofclaim 16, further comprising: a discharge transporter; and some of therollers of the cleaner rotating in an opposite direction from others ofthe rollers to first move the tuberous crops toward the outboard endsand subsequently move the tuberous crops toward a centerline of thecleaning station where the discharge transporter moves the cleanedtuberous crops to the piling conveyor.
 18. The machine of claim 15,further comprising: a moveable bed; a substantially horizontal feedconveyor assembly located between the bed and the cleaner; and the bedbeing capable of dumping the tuberous crops onto the feed conveyorassembly for subsequent movement of the tuberous crops to the cleaner ina direction substantially perpendicular to rotational axes of at least amajority of the rollers of the cleaner.
 19. The machine of claim 18,further comprising: a first scale coupled to the bed to weigh thetuberous crops and the dirt before the bed is tilted; and a second scaleweighing the dirt removed from the tuberous crops.
 20. The machine ofclaim 15, further comprising: a tuberous crop-receiving station; asubterranean pit located below the receiving station; and at least aportion of the cleaning station being located in the pit.
 21. Themachine of claim 20, wherein there are at least two sets of the cleanerand the receiving station located adjacent to each other with vehiclesbeing moveable into the receiving stations in substantially paralleldirections.
 22. The machine of claim 15, comprising at least twoadditional mobile piling conveyors, each of the piling conveyors havinga diagonally raised distal end which overlaps a lower proximal end ofthe adjacent piling conveyor, and at least one of the piling conveyorsbeing telescopic.
 23. The machine of claim 15, wherein the moveablesection of the dirt-transporter comprises a hopper which is rotatableand liftable to dump the dirt into a top of the trailer at a locationremote from a crop-receiving station.
 24. The machine of claim 15,wherein the moveable section of the dirt-transporter comprises adiagonally raised dirt-removal conveyor moving the dirt from a sectionof the dirt-removal conveyor located below the rollers to the cleaner.25. The machine of claim 15, configured to allow a first dump trailer tounload a first group of the tuberous crops from a rear end thereofdirectly onto a moveable bed while a second dump trailer receives itspreviously dumped dirt which was removed from a second group of thetuberous crops cleaned in the cleaner; wherein the tuberous crops aresugar beets.
 26. The machine of claim 15, further comprising: a sensoroperably sensing when the trailer is in a desired location; an actuatorcoupled to the dirt-transporter; and the actuator automatically movingthe dirt-transporter from a retracted position to an advanced unloadingposition when the sensor senses that the trailer is in the desiredlocation.
 27. A dirt removal and piling machine comprising: (a) atuberous crop-receiving station; (b) a tuberous crop-cleaning station;(c) a tuberous crop-sampling station including an automated and moveablesample capture chamber and an automated sample bagger; and (d) anelongated piling conveyor; the cleaning station being located downstreamof the receiving station, the sampling chamber being located downstreamof the cleaning station and the piling conveyor being located downstreamof the cleaning station.
 28. The machine of claim 27, further comprisinga dirt transporter capable of receiving dirt removed from workpieces inthe cleaning station, and transporting the dirt to a remote location, atleast a section of the dirt transporter being located below the cleaningstation.
 29. The machine of claim 27, wherein the cleaning stationcomprises spaced apart and parallel rollers, at least a majority of therollers each including a spiral flighting to longitudinally movetuberous crops between outboard ends thereof while rotating the tuberouscrops.
 30. The machine of claim 27, further comprising a substantiallyhorizontal feed conveyor located between the receiving station and thecleaning station, a bed of the receiving station being capable ofdumping tuberous crops onto the feed conveyor for subsequent movement tothe cleaning station.
 31. The machine of claim 27, wherein the samplingstation is located between a pair of the cleaning stations.
 32. Themachine of claim 27, further comprising: a first scale or load cellcoupled to the receiving station operable to weigh tuberous crops anddirt therein; and a second scale or load cell operable to weigh the dirtremoved from the tuberous crops by the cleaning station.
 33. The machineof claim 27, wherein the sampling station comprises a robotic armoperable to capture at least one cleaned tuberous crop into the chamber.34. The machine of claim 27, wherein the chamber is automatically movedto align above the bagger and at least one cleaned tuberous crop isdropped from the chamber into a bag.
 35. The machine of claim 27,wherein the bagger automatically encloses at least one cleaned tuberouscrop into a bag and labels the bag without manual intervention.
 36. Adirt removal and piling machine comprising: (a) at least one end wall,an elongated bed and sidewalls, the sidewalls upstanding from inboardand outboard edges of the bed, the end wall being moveable from an openposition to a closed and upstanding position, and the bed operablyrotating about its inboard edge; (b) rotating rollers tumbling tuberouscrops and removing dirt therefrom, at least some of the rollersincluding spiral threads longitudinally moving the tuberous crops whilethey are tumbled; (c) a dirt-removal conveyor having a section locatedbelow the rollers; (d) multiple mobile piling conveyors arranged in aserial manner moving the cleaned tuberous crops and piling the tuberouscrops on the ground, a raised end of the at least one of pilingconveyors being telescopic and being rotatable from side to side in atop view; and (e) the tuberous crops being unloaded onto the bed in adifferent location from where the conveyed dirt is unloaded aftercleaning.
 37. A method of using a dirt removal machine, the methodcomprising: (a) dumping intermixed crops and debris onto a moveable bed;(b) moving the bed to transfer the crops and the debris to cleaningrollers; (c) rotating the crops on the rollers to remove at least someof the debris; (d) causing the debris to fall from the rollers onto adebris transporter; and (e) causing the debris transporter to move thefallen debris to a trailer loading location different from the bed. 38.The method of claim 37, further comprising: piling the crops, which aretuberous crops, on the ground after the rotating step; and loading thefallen debris, which is dirt, into the trailer simultaneously withanother portable trailer dumping its intermixed tuberous crops and dirtonto the bed.
 39. The method of claim 37, further comprising droppingthe dumped crops from the bed into a below-ground pit where a least someof the cleaning rollers are located.